


Discovering Storybrooke

by ScatterShot



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Tarzan (1999)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 00:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3228947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScatterShot/pseuds/ScatterShot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jane Porter has come to Storybrooke. Inspired by the theory that Jane Porter is Belle's Granddaughter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Adventure Unlike Any Other

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't ruled out anything, so feel free to contribute to the plot. Also, do I really need to put a disclaimer on these things?

“Janey… Janey… Jane dear!”

Jane Porter looked up from her half full sketch book with a start, locking eyes with her father, Professor Archimedes Porter, from the back seat of their newly bought, beat up van. She hadn’t even noticed the car pulling to a stop. A quick glance around showed them to be in a forest of some sort on a long stretch of road, the area would look completely wild and enchanted if not for the long stretch of road running through it.

She turned her gaze back to her father who was waiting patiently for her to finish reorienting herself. “Um… Daddy, just where are we?” She was far more hesitant than usual to ask questions, over the past two days since they had left London the professor had been… different, almost on edge.

Professor Porter was a genetic scientist with a love to travel and often dragged his now sixteen year old daughter around to foreign countries every summer, over the years they had travelled all over the world so he could continue his research on various animals and plants. He would turn every trip into a marvellous adventure with his fascination of all living things, frequently proclaiming that “Anything is possible my dear! Take for example this flower it can…” His enthusiasm and love of discovery was contagious and strongly shared by his only child who preferred to document her discoveries by sketching them out into her ever present sketch book, her main collection back home in London took up a sizable space in their library and consisted of over forty books from back when she had first picked up a pencil aged four.

This time though they had come to America, which wouldn’t have been terribly odd if they had gone to a university or a museum, but instead her father had been strangely… anxious (even for him), when he had announced that they would be going on a road trip of all things. When Jane had asked him where they were going, the professor had brushed her off exclaiming. “Now now my dear, really must hurry, not to worry, all will be revealed in due course!” but his insistence on purchasing a beat up van from before she was born instead of simply renting a car had really thrown her.

“Ahem” The professor cleared his throat, making an attempt to seem serious and simultaneously regaining Jane’s attention. Not that she could ever take him too seriously as it didn’t take much to prompt a warm chuckle out of her sole caregiver, no matter how serious he was. “We are going to be at our destination soon and I wanted to prepare you.” He spoke in his professor voice that he used whenever he was preparing to launch into an explanation of any kind.

Jane glanced around at the forest again and smiled at her father and raised an eyebrow. “Just what are we doing out here?”

Sure enough the greying professor responded with a cheerful chuckle. “Not here my dear, no no, we are going to a town called Storybrooke. We will be meeting an old… acquaintance of mine, if you will. Not to worry! It’s all been arranged and this is a very special town, you will have plenty of things to draw and the townspeople themselves are quite special indeed! Quite the characters” Jane hadn’t seen her father like this in… forever.

Even though his words were excited and cheerful, his demeanour over the last few days had been uncharacteristically nervous and quiet and he often looked like he had far too much on his mind. Jane didn’t like it; it made the only person in her life that was family look far too old and tired. Although she wanted to push for more information she decided to stay silent and smile half-heartedly back in order to placate him. The smile slipping from her face, leaving a worried frown in its place as he turned to start the car and continue on to the town she had heard so little about.

Looking out the window Jane found herself unable to go back to sketching the picture of an African Elephant she had been drawing and eyed her father, wondering if she could gently prompt more information from him without turning the excitable man into a nervous wreck. After several moments she impatiently decided to chance it. “Daddy, may I ask… the name of your acquaintance?”

The professor carefully kept his eyes on the road and responded in a semi-distracted voice. “He goes by Mr Clayton, he works as a security person or body guard for hire for explorers and travellers such as ourselves and accompanies them into locations other security companies tend to shy away from, though he can he rather… course I suppose.” He gave a sort of shrug and continued driving in silence.

Jane leaned back in her seat processing the new information. Her father had always been talkative, a trait which she herself had inherited, probably the most disorientating change in her father’s behaviour of late was the lack of chatter and even when he did speak, it was often with that same distracted tone from before. She sighed and watched the trees blur past through the window to her right and hoped that whatever business her father could possibly have in a small town in Maine would be done with quickly so that they could return to their normal life.

She was pulled out of her thoughts once more and dragged back into the harsh silence that was becoming a painful reality for the small family when the car slowed down again several minutes later, again seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Jane’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked out the front of the car and saw a road block, a white line on the road and a sign that read “Welcome to Storybrooke!” Standing near the line was a short, grumpy looking man and another short man who looked rather cheerful, the contrast between the two seemed to work though and Jane would have almost said that they were brothers.

Professor Porter hopped out of the van after murmuring to his daughter “Stay here my dear, I won’t be long.” and strolled up to the two men who were eyeing him with a mixture of surprise and suspicion. Jane quietly unclicked her seatbelt and leaned forward behind the passenger staining to hear the conversation taking place. The grumpy looking man gruffly addressed the professor with a glare “What’s your business in Storybrooke?” 


	2. Curiosity and other Deadly Sins

It was several minutes before Professor Porter returned to the van but he seemed far more relaxed as the barrier was moved for them to pass through. Jane felt herself relax as they made their way into the town, only tense up again when she noticed people eyeing the van and its occupants with the same surprise and suspicion that the men at the edge of town had. Jane found herself sinking down in her seat to avoid the heavy gazes of the silent and nearly motionless people.

After their van had been parked and their rooms at a bed and breakfast called “Granny’s” had been paid for Jane’s father encouraged her to explore the town while he went to meet his acquaintance. So Jane had changed into a summery knee length yellow dress and put her hair up in a practical bun. She was walking along the streets, sketchbook in hand and her pencil in her pocket, trying to ignore the people who seemed more confused by her presence than anything else, but for the most part not unfriendly, often responding to her glances with a warm smile that helped to set her at ease.

As she became more and more comfortable Jane began to look up at the buildings around her and had to restrain a squeak of excitement when she spotted an antique store across the street and hurried over.

A bell tinkled harshly above her head as she entered the shop with a little too much enthusiasm, causing Jane to look up with a startled gasp. A tiny bell swung back and forth above almost hypnotically. A voice with an edge she couldn’t place, seemed to come out of nowhere, startling her all over again. “Do be careful with my little bell, dearie.”

Jane spun to look at the man behind the counter at the opposite end of the store and flushed in embarrassment “Oh! Oh I **am** sorry! I was just a little excited I suppose, I’ve never been in an antique shop before though I’ve always wanted to see one, though I do visit a lot of museums and honestly there are some similarities and- Oh, um… sorry.”

The man behind the counter was watching her with a single raised eyebrow and she had embarrassed herself all over again by giving in to her chatterbox tendencies. Jane decided then to give up on talking and smiled awkwardly at the man. After a moment he quirked a half smile at her but continued to look at bit perplexed. “Not to worry dearie, feel free to look around, do take care though. My name is Mr Gold, welcome to my shop.”

The teen flushed again and murmured “Thank you.” She turned to examine a nearby clock and tried not to feel awkward about the other man who had gone back to restoring a shield of some sort.

After a little time spent exploring, Mr Gold spoke up again as she was examining a scary looking pair of puppets “Dearie, may I ask about your little book there?”

Jane turned to Mr Gold with a look of surprise, almost having forgotten he was still in the room with her. “Oh, uh this?” She held up her sketch book and Mr Gold gave a small nod in response. “Oh, yes, of course. She crossed the room and handed the book to the older man who placed it on the counter in front of him, the shield and restoration tools from before tucked away somewhere.

Mr Gold opened to the first page to a sketch she had done of a silver backed gorilla and raised his eyebrows. “Well Miss…”

The teen flushed again, feeling like she should have never left the bed and breakfast since she apparently had no manners today. “Jane Porter” she said quietly and silently forbade herself from asking any of the rambling questions that were flying through her mind.

“Well Miss Porter” Mr Gold continued “This is quite good.” He continued to flick through the pages slowly, taking time to take in each near photographic sketch as he continued to talk. “So what brings a young talent such as yourself to our little town?”

It took a moment for Jane to respond, then she hastily replied, clearing her throat “I am on a sort of road trip with my father, he has business in this town with an old associate of his…” Here she trailed off. Mr Gold was staring straight at her with an almost threatening look.

“And what,” He began carefully, the tone of his voice turned sharp as a razor “Business would that be, dearie?”

It nearly wasn’t a question and Jane had to mentally shake herself before she could reply “I- I’m not sure, he didn’t tell me much.” She gasped and leaned back as Mr Gold leaned forward, somehow looking completely menacing.

“I don’t **like** liars, _dearie_ ” He spat the endearment as though it were a curse and Jane resisted the urge to stagger back in shock.

After a moment of wavering on the spot she darted forward, snatching her sketch book of the counter and stumbled backward, unwilling to take her eyes off the strange man who was now relaxing in a way that reminded her of how snakes sometimes behaved after delivering a deadly dose of venom to their dinner.

She was so shaken that she nearly tripped over something on her way backwards, keeping her eyes on the strange man who continued to watch her unmoving. Just as she was groping around for the door handle when a gunshot cut through the silence. Jane’s eyes widened and Mr Gold jolted in surprise. The pair locked eyes and a sickening feeling made itself known in Jane’s stomach. Quickly she turned around to hurriedly open the door, only half aware of Mr Gold quickly making his way to the door.

Jane burst out into the street with Mr Gold just two steps behind her and felt her heart constrict as waves of denial and horror swept of her “DADDY!” but she was grabbed as she tried to run to where her father was laying on the floor, bleeding from his chest. “No! Let me go! Ugh!”

 


	3. A Heart of Gold

Jane sobbed and struggled in the grip of Mr Gold who was taking stock of the situation. Standing just a few steps from where Professor Porter lay moaning in agony stood a tall, muscular man whose physic and posture screamed hunter and who reminded him oddly of Gaston, Belle’s former groom to be, his gun still trained in the unfortunate professor, though his eyes were on the distraught teenager.

Most of the town had taken cover in the shops that lined the street and he had no doubt that the Sheriff would be here in mere minutes. The gunman aimed the gun at Mr Gold and Jane who froze, gasping and trying to stifle silent sobs.

Rumpelstiltskin glared at the man, unfazed by the apparently loaded weapon which he noted was trained on the girl rather than on himself which was odd, the gunman should have seen him as more of a threat but he was paying this scrap of a girl more attention. “You seem familiar.” He let Jane go and she stumbled to the ground then crawled the short distance to her father.

The hunter sneered in response. “The girl!” Jane seemed to shrink back into Mr Gold “Give her to me, and I **might** just let you live.” He had the voice of a used car salesman and the tone to match.

“You” both men turned their attention to Jane who had spoken in a small, shaken voice. “You… You’re Mr Clayton, the man my father had business with.”

Clayton leered in response “You’re quite right, what an intelligent little girl you are.” He had kept the gun trained on her throughout the entire encounter. “You are truly a credit to your father.” He continued, relishing the sob Jane emitted.

Mr Gold scoffed regaining Clayton’s attention “You don’t scare me; I’ve done far worse than you could dream. I may not recognise who you are exactly, but I know that look, that dark, power hungry look. That look, of total… impotence.”

The man smirked in response “Indeed” He responded in his oily voice “How is this for impotence, **Rumpelstiltskin**?!” In a move that caught even Mr Gold off guard, the gunman shot Jane right through her heart. There was a moment of shocked silence as Jane crumpled to the ground between her father and Gold. Clayton watched her silent, motionless body for several moments before scoffing. “Pathetic, what a terrible waste, all that time and money.”

“Now just what _are_ you talking about.” Though he had spoken softly Gold’s voice seemed to fill the empty street, his accent coming through especially thick.

Clayton eyed him for several moments before breaking into a greasy smile “That man there.” He waved his gun in the professor’s general direction “and I had an agreement. You see I was Gaston’s young cousin and this old man and I had a common goal, to live forever.” Here he swung his gun up to rest against his shoulder “The only way he knew to do that was to kill the dark one, but as you can see, this man couldn’t hurt a fly and I, a mere child would be unable to anything either.”

Professor gave another groan of pain and rasped “Not Janey…”

The look of contempt Clayton gave the prone man reminded Gold far too much of his old days though he did continue. “So the old man decided he would trade with the dark one, he traded the life of his first born child for a basket of golden string. But no matter how he tried, he could not replicate the powers of the dark one in any of the individuals he experimented on, rather, they all died in horrific pain, and then we got word of the curse, but rather than being afraid the old man was ecstatic.”

Gold cut him off “Ah yes, I remember that deal, he never did fulfil it…” he trailed off in a thoughtful tone.

After a long moment of silence where Clayton seemed lost in thought, he finally continued, leaning against a car parked nearby. “He acquired a magic bean and then we both fled to this world, shortly before the curse was enacted. Now, I wasn’t part of all the old man’s tricks and I made my way to becoming a man strong enough to take on the dark one while he continued his experiments, and then one day I hear about her.”

Here he gestured with his gun at Jane whose blood was beginning to run out from beneath her body, her face hidden against the ground. “When I asked him about her he was so excited, he had finally recreated the dark ones essence, in his first born child, his only child. I didn’t ask how he had finally done it but I did question. Who would get to kill her and take her power? We agreed to wait until the curse had been lifted, to ensure we could get at you too-“

“Why not just **create** another dark one? Why wait, anything could have happened to yourselves or to the girl, why delay immortality?”

The hunter glared at him for the interruption before clearing his throat dramatically and continuing “As I was saying. The professor was quite sure that he wouldn’t be able to create another and that killing either of you would serve no purpose without magic. So we waited, but when it came time to make good on our deal the old man insisted he’d gotten it wrong.” Claytons sneer turned ugly and mocking. “That his golden hearted Jane could **never** _ever_ be a dark one. Couldn’t possibly have magic.”

Rumpelstiltskin waited several moments before realising that Clayton was done talking. He spread his arms slightly and said “And then what happened.”

Clayton huffed “And then I shot that traitorous liar, no man goes back on a deal with me.”

“Right, right.” Gold murmured. “But then why kill the girl, because you know, if she did have the powers of a dark one, she wouldn’t be dead, not without a very particular weapon.”

Just as the gunman opened his mouth to respond Jane let out a loud breathy gasp for air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So writing is fun, even if you suck at it. Since it is nearly 2am I should probably go to bed now... more to come tomorrow. :)


	4. Seeing is Believing

The two men stared as Jane continued to gasp for breath as though she had been forced to hold it as long as she could. She seemed to be struggling though and reached out towards Gold’s feet, still facing him from where she’d tried to turn away from the gunfire. She continued to gasp noisily for air and reach toward Mr Gold who was just noticing her sketchbook, the book had fallen open onto one of her drawings after she had dropped it at the sight of her father.

With a breathy gasp her bare hand connected to the page and chaos ensued.

Clayton let out a yell of surprise and anger and staggered back and Rumpelstiltskin did the same, eyes wide and alarmed. Standing over Jane was a large jaguar. It immediately turned to look at Clayton who with shaking hands straightened out his gun and shot it in the head.

The jaguar shook its head then delicately stepped over Jane, who Rumpelstiltskin noted, did not even seem aware of her surroundings though she was still breathing so there was that. With a snarl the jaguar leapt at the hunter leaving Gold free to see to Jane, still trying to process the information Clayton had been so free with.

Another gunshot echoed through the town and Clayton continued to wrestle with the jaguar as the sheriff’s car swung into the street.

Gold took a careful look at the wound, just under the girls modest neckline and but didn’t outwardly react at the sight of shimmering golden scales that soon faded into unblemished flesh. He looked up to see sheriff Swan attempting to regain control of the situation and Clayton trying to fend of the enraged animal.

Jane struggled to catch her breath and focus on the scene that was unfolding before her, with a little help she hobbled up right and with a cry of exertion, lurched toward the jaguar and missed. On some level she registered that there was a blond woman, a police officer? Close by, calling for her to stand back. Jane gritted her teeth and staggered toward the large cat, reaching out and missing again.

Another gunshot went off, the bullet piercing the jaguar to no effect.  Jane felt off balance and as though she were hearing things through water, the sounds were all out of focus and nothing made sense. She made one final grab toward the jaguar, caught hold of its tail and fell to the ground.

Then everything was quiet and still.

The air was filled with a heavy silence as Jane lay panting for breath on the road, her hand still clenched around…something. Then all at once everyone began to move again, Jane started to pry herself of the ground muttering “Ow, ow, ow.” To her right the woman, now training her handgun on Clayton, reached down with one hand to help her up.

“Hey are you okay?” Jane looked up at the woman; she wasn’t looking at her but was keeping all of her attention on the hunter, even as she hooked her arm around Jane’s back to pull her into a standing position, supporting her with her own body. “Kid are you hurt?”

“What… What happened?” Jane stuttered ignoring the question for now. “D-did I hit my head?”

“No dearie” Mr Gold cut in, mildly annoyed at being ignored. “I’m afraid that little incident you just witnessed, was all too real.”

“Not helping Gold!” Emma snapped back, still watching Clayton intently. It was always **something** with this town, be it a werewolf, or a giant it was always something- “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!” She yelled roughly as Clayton went to adjust his weapon. “Drop the gun, and put both hands in the air!”

Clayton’s face twisted into an ugly scowl but he complied nevertheless. His body was marked with deep and shallow gashes in several places, all in all he was a mess and all this with his clothes and hair askew made him look a far cry from the gentleman hunter he usually portrayed himself as.

Jane started when Mr Gold appeared at her left side but he spoke to the blond woman over her head. “You deal with him Miss Swan, I’ll watch over the girl.” Though his tone was reassuring, his presence seemed oppressive somehow and Jane was unable to stop the shudder that ran up her spine as he moved to help support her weight.

Emma waited until Jane was secure with Gold before moving forward cautiously. “Sir! You are under arrest; put your hands behind your back.”

The teen stared at the sheriff before looking up at Gold “We’re really not gonna talk about this.”

Gold gave her a look that Jane supposed was meant to be compassionate. “Now, dearie, I don’t know what you thought you saw-“

“What I thought I saw?!” Jane demanded, ignoring Gold’s grimace at being interrupted. “How about what I **did**? What I just did, just now, there was a **huge** jaguar in the _street_!” she ranted, trying to act out what she was ranting about in the way that she was prone to doing whenever she became over excited or overwhelmed about something. When she slipped Gold quickly readjusted his grip to catch her and Jane noticed that she was holding something.

Almost as one she and Gold looked down at the object in her hand, shaking, she started to open the crushed paper one handed… it looked, eerily like it came out of her sketchbook, she gasped as the drawing on the paper was revealed, her drawing of a jaguar she had seen while on an adventure with her father earlier that summer. It looked no different aside from the ugly creases that now ran through the page.

“Gold, what’s going on?” Emma called from the police cruiser where she had just secured Clayton in the back.

Rumplestiltskin didn’t respond but continued to watch the girl he was holding as she looked up to him, eyes wide and afraid. “But” she asked “How?”

He took in her face once more and whispered “Magic.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So... continue? Also any constructive comments would be thoroughly appreciated! Thanks for reading :)


End file.
